Bonhams raises glass to whisky results

Sales of whisky at Bonhams have had their most successful year, with a total £919,000, including the top-selling whisky, a Dalmore-50 year old-1926, which sold for £26,250 this month.

Bonhams held its first whisky sale in 2008, and now holds four sales a year at its Edinburgh HQ as well as four sales in Hong Kong, including its first-ever online only sale.

Bonhams Whisky specialist in Edinburgh, Martin Green said, “2017 has been a bumper year for Bonhams whisky sales in Scotland. Since we started selling whisky at auction in 2008, the market has grown steadily year on year, but 2017 has been exceptional. We are undoubtedly benefitting from the global interest in collecting whiskies which is now very much an international pursuit. We have regular bidders from all over the world, including China, Hong Kong, Singapore Japan and Taiwan, all the countries of mainland Europe, north and south America as well, of course, as Scotland and the rest of the UK”

Top results at Bonhams Edinburgh in 2017 include:

• Dalmore-50 year old-1926 sold for £26,250 in December 2017
• The Bowmore Trilogy: Black Bowmore-42 year old-1964, Gold Bowmore-44 year old-1964, White Bowmore-43 year old-1964, sold for £25,000 also in December 2017
• The Macallan Millennium Decanter 50 year old 1949 sold for £21,250 in June 2017
• The Macallan Select Reserve-25 year old – 1946 sold for £15,625 in October 2017

Bonhams Hong Kong highlights included:

• A bottle of The Macallan-50 year old-1928 sold for HKD 588,000 (£57,000) in November 2017
• Macallan Lalique-50 year old (1) Macallan Lalique-55 year old (1) • Macallan Lalique-57 year old (1) Macallan Lalique-60 year old (1) • Macallan Lalique-62 year old (1) Macallan Lalique-65 year old (1): sold for HKD 3,797,500 (£377,000) in August 2017